The latest plenary session of the Astigarraga City Council has once again placed the public transport debate at the center of the local political agenda. Despite recent adjustments to the interurban bus network, a majority of municipal councilors and social organizations agree on a shared diagnosis: the improvements remain insufficient to meet the real needs of a growing population.
Two recently approved motions, one promoted by the citizen platform Mugitu Astigarraga and another by EH Bildu, highlight persistent discontent. Both initiatives, supported by different majorities, insist that the structural problems of the service have not been resolved and demand more far-reaching measures from the Gipuzkoa Provincial Council, the administration responsible for managing interurban transport.
A hospital service with hourly frequencies and only two stops in the municipality is not enough to guarantee dignified mobility or to meet existing demand.
The Mugitu Astigarraga platform, which has channeled neighborhood mobilization through concentrations and demonstrations in recent weeks, maintains its initial demands. These include increasing frequencies on lines BU12 and BU13, restoring eliminated routes, and establishing effective connections with hospitals and university centers. Furthermore, the unreliability of the service has even led to behavioral changes among users, who opt to travel to earlier stops to secure a seat.
Given this scenario, the Plenary has urged the Provincial Council to permanently reinforce lines BU12 and BU13, to develop a plan to prevent users from being left behind, and to share detailed usage data with the City Council and citizens. Likewise, the implementation of a specific line to the hospital and university area with more competitive frequencies is demanded, as well as the recovery of suppressed stops that were strategic for the internal structuring of the municipality.
Precisely in this last point, one of the main recent developments is framed: the launch of the new BU14 line, which will connect Astigarraga with the hospital and university area of Donostia starting on Monday, April 13. The service, announced by the Mobility deputy, Azahara Domínguez, has incorporated schedule adjustments after user complaints, bringing forward several departures to facilitate arrival at work shifts in health centers. However, both the City Council and the citizen platform agree that the BU14, despite its potential, does not by itself resolve the structural deficits of the system.
